NEOS Investment Management LLC Buys 9,954 Shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) by 31.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,769 shares of the asset manager’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,954 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Blackstone were worth $7,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bangor Savings Bank raised its position in shares of Blackstone by 187.5% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in Blackstone during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Blackstone in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Institutional investors own 70.00% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares in the company, valued at $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on BX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut Blackstone from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group raised shares of Blackstone from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $180.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $171.13.

Blackstone Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:BX opened at $144.81 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $167.38. Blackstone Inc. has a 52-week low of $115.82 and a 52-week high of $200.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $105.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.89, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.55.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $1.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is a boost from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio is currently 158.68%.

Blackstone Profile

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.